Ep 4: You're in 2,700 Walmart Stores. But Are You Actually on the Shelf?

Blake Sorensen is the founder and CEO of Blake's (formerly Blake's Seed Based), a Chicago-based better-for-you snack brand built around clean ingredients and allergen transparency. Diagnosed with a life-threatening tree nut allergy at age three, Blake spent nearly three decades unable to eat most bars and snacks on the market before deciding to solve his own problem.

He developed the original seed-and-fruit bar recipes as an MBA project at Indiana University, launched via Kickstarter in 2018, and was selected for the Kraft Heinz Springboard incubator within his first year. Without institutional funding, he has grown Blake's into a nationally distributed brand carried at Sprouts, Wegmans, Central Market, and 2,700 Walmart doors, with placement on United and American Airlines. Before founding Blake's, he was a starting linebacker at the University of Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers in tackles in 2010.